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SERMON 



FOR THE 



TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 



OF THE STANDING OF THE 



ON ITS PRESENT SITE. 



BY M LEONARD WITHMTON, 

> , 
PA6TOE OF SAID CHURCH. 



SENDEE TIIEBEEORE TO ALL THEIR DDES.— St. Paul. 



NEWBURYPORT : 

ENOCH HALE, JR., PRINTER, COURIER TRESS 

1846. 



F74- 



At a meeting of the members of the First Parish in Newbury, held this day, Voted, that 
the thanks of this Society be presented to the Rev. Mr. Withington, for his interesting and 
instructive Sermon delivered this day. Voted, that Messrs. D. Colman, R. Coffin, and Ii. 
Tenney, be a Committee to request a copy for the press. 

WILLIAM. THURSTON, Clerk. 
Newbury, Oct. 20, 18-16. 

Rev. Leonard Withington: 

Dear Sir, — Agreeable to a vote of the members of your Society, the undersignod do 
present you their thanks for your Sermon (delivered on the 20th of October, 1846) and do 
respectfully request a copy for the press. 

Daniel Colman, ~\ 



Newbury, Oct. 27, 1846. 



Richard Coffin, )• Committee. 
Richard Ten 



£NNEY, ) 



To the Gentlemen of the Committee of the First Parish in Newbury : 

I regret that some of the subjects touched on in this discourse demand a volume- 
rather than a few lines; particularly the history of toleration and its rise in Holland. No- 
justice can be done the subject, or me, without remembering, I have merely hinted a fact 
which long research might prove. Cut I commit the discourse to your disposal, merely 
reminding the candid reader that, in such sermons, brevity is hardly ever regarded as aft 
imperfection. With great respect 

I subscribe myself 

Your Friend and Pastor, 



LEONARD WITHINGTON. 



To Messrs. — 

Daniel Colman, ^ 

Richard Coffin, >- Committee. 

Richard Tenney,) 

Oet. 30th, 1846. 



Swnree unkaown 



y <$0 



SERMON. 



PSALM XCIX, 8. 9. 

Thou answeredst them Lord, our God : Thou wast a God that fokgav* 
Est them, though thou tookesT Vengeance of their Inventions. Exalt the: 
Lord our God, and Worship at his holy hill; for the Lord our God is Holt. 

The veneration with which we look back on our an- 
cestors, as well as the affection which attaches us to a par- 
ticular region of country, is a strong feeling, implanted in 
our hearts by Providence, and there are occasions when it 
needs to be regulated rather than increased. Pride, if it be 
ever lawful, becomes honest when we look back on an- 
cestors to whom, under God, we owe half our virtue and 
nearly all our happiness. We hear of Solon ; we give him 
the purest praise. And our fathers were men, who laid 
the foundation of an empire ; they combined religion with 
government ; piety with learning; and opened the foun- 
tain, whose ever flowing waters are to become a river* 
nourishing the trees, whose fruit and branches are to give 
pleasure and aliment to all who behold their beauty, or sit 
under their shade. 

The praises, however, bestowed on the Puritans have 
not always been discriminating. They are our fathers ; 
and we have been sometimes led into the amiable error 
of over-rating their virtues and turning our eyes away 
from their faults. If our partiality terminated in specula- 
tive admiration, it might be forgotten and pardoned. But 



we are strongly tempted to imitate what we admire ; we 
are temptated also to compensate the neglect of some vir- 
tues, by the cheaper duty of praising them in our ances- 
tors ; just as the scribes and pharisees, built the tombs of 

THE PROPHETS AND GARNISHED THE SEPULCHRES OP THE RIGHTE- 
OUS. Men are sometimes led blindly to adore in the past 
those very virtues which they are most lacking in, in their 
own example. At any rate, the best praise is that which 
is found the more just, the more it is examined, and will 
last as long as truth itself Our text is applicable to our 
fathers. No doubt God led them to this wilderness ; he 
employed them in a very important work — he took them 
away from the feudalism of the old world; he sent them, 
out, as he sent Abram to Canaan, to this distant continent ; 
he employed them in building up a new system of gov- 
ernment and religion ; he laid his ordaining hands on them 
for that work ; he gave them all the virtues which he saw 
necessary, and he allowed some of the errors which his 
own deep wisdom sometimes condescends to use in bring- 
ing about its mighty purposes. In a word, our text was 
true of them as it was of a remarkable people of old. Thou 
wast a God that forgavest them ; though thou tookest 
Vengeance of their Inventions ; that is, they had not faults 
which merciful justice did not forgive, and they had in- 
ventions which time and experience must sweep away. 

New England owes its existence to the faults of the re- 
formation. When we read the history of that remarkable 
event our sympathy is enlisted with the reformers ; we 
admire their fortitude ; their zeal; their sincerity ; their 
scorn of tyrants and their reverence for God. Our feel- 
ings inform us where they ought to have stopped; and we 
regret deeply when we see the beauty and the progress 
of the work marred by the dissentions of good men. O, if 
Queen Elizabeth had had a little more earnest piety ; if 
her'bishops had been a little more conciliating and their 
measures more mild ; if the puritans themselves had been 



less zealous about the surplice, and a little more men of 
the world, — what a beautiful edifice of unity and wisdom 
might have sprung up. How would the mouths of gain- 
sayers have been stopped ; and how powerful would have 
been the action of protestantism on the heart of all its foes! 
A corrupt church might have been overthrown ; and the 
stream of pious influence, united in one channel and flow- 
ing in one direction, might have sweetened the whole 
ocean and pervaded the whole earth, What a divine 
unity ; what a blessed effect ! Such are our theoretic 
dreams. But God's ways are not our ways. It is his 
will that the Church should be torn by dissension and his 
people thrive by persecution. He loves a little flock; 
and the splendid chandeliers that man's invention devis- 
es to light his temple, are shivered by the tempest which 
his justice raises, whenever we open the doors. It was 
these contests of the protestants that planted New Eng- 
and. They came to settle on these shores under angry 
skies ; they crossed an angry ocean ; they brought with 
them the seeds of an angry religion; and, though they 
were favored with the mercy, yet they sometimes met 
the frowns of an angry God. 

Thus was New England cradled in religious dessension ; 
she was born in a vortex, or to speak more fully she owed 
her origin to that deep religious feeling which is far more 
favorable to energy than to peace. We must take our 
blessings in that exact combination which Providenee pre- 
sents them to us. We hook up the fish from the stormy 
ocean ; the nuts, which grow upon the tall trees, are shak- 
en down to us by the violent wind ; and even the rose it- 
self blooms on the thorn. It was not to be expected that 
the soft civilities which spring up in still life were to be 
found among ardent spirits, whose only recreation was 
prayer and meditation ; and whose self-denial was willing 
to cross an ocean to found an empire. At any rate, New 
England from her very commencement was shaken by 



6 

religious disunion. The everlasting question of uniting, the 
rights of conscience with the unity and welfare of the 
Church ; the antinomian tendencies of a high orthodoxy ; 
the over-action of individual zeal, the excesses of that theo- 
pathy which is separated from the principle of obedience; 
the individuality which will burst out when men are free ; 
the delicate Hue between the departments of muncipal law 
and private morality ; all these questions — perhaps some 
of them not even yet solved, agitated the public mind to 
its very centre. They came to this shore to enjoy peace ; 
but reformation is a series of questions which seem to ex- 
ist in an everlasting chain. How can you have peace 
when every impetuous Jehu, yokes his chariot and whips 
his horses, and says to every wise man that meets him ; 

WHAT HAST THOU TO DO WITH PEACE? TURN THEE BEHIND ME. 

This ancient parish may be considered as the very con- 
centration of the character of New England. Here was 
found, as in a miniature, with lines not the less strong for 
their littleness, all its virtues and all its faults. The first 
parish of Newbury gives abundant proofs, in its written 
records, that it preferred strenuous liberty to peaceful 
bondage ; that it could attend on the ordinances and 
hearken to the counsels of a minister, and yet resist him ; 
pay him his salary very punctually; take off the hat when- 
ever it met him, with the most conventional reverence, 
and yet draw the line where they supposed justice and 
encroachment met ; and defend their purposes with the 
most pious obstinacy. It is a remarkable fact, even in the 
days of Parker, that a contention was carried on for twen- 
ty-five years with both the clergymen, for the rights of 
the Church, which many of the people thought invaded. 
Yarious decisions of the court were had on the subject ; 
several against the popular side of the question ; 
until finally the people carried their point; all the while 
maintaining order and attending on the preaching. * Such 

* See a very curious account of this controversy, in Mr. Coffin's very ample, very 
impartial and very interesting history of Newbury, page 72 and onward. 



is New Engiandism ; such is liberty as developed in this 
part of the world ; a sober principle ; revering God, but 
scorning the aggressions of man ; definite in its aim ; 
rather obstinate in its purposes ; willing to be led but im- 
possible to be driven, and even in its most violent resistance 
of authority preserving the love of order and the reverence 
for religion. 

It seems from the very first that this parish and its cler- 
gy, had a little tincture of a more liberal doctrine, than was 
prevalent in the country. This appears from several con- 
siderations, — 1st that Parker was the scholar of the mild 
Archbishop Usher ; 2d that he was dealt with and visited by 
his brethern in what was called the third way of communi- 
on^ for his suspected heresy ; 3d, the Catechism published 
by Mr Noyes, his colleague and kinsman, was a remarka- 
bly cautious one, stating none of the doctrines of Calvin- 
ism in their most offensive terms. At any rate, the seeds of 
Arminianism were early sown in this country. This par- 
ish in a later day, led the way. It may be proper on this 
occasion and standing on this ground, to cast a transient 
glance to that system ; to show its rise and influence ; the 
causes that produced it ; to remark its strength and weak- 
ness, and yield a passing tribute to those mild but mistak- 
en men, who defended it by their learning and adorned it 
by their example. Whatever may have been the defects 
of that system, it was permitted to exist by God; perhaps 
he used it as a moral purchase to take some other more 
plausible errors out of the way of his people. 

In the ancient Church it cannot be doubted that the Pal- 
agian tendencies long preceded the system of Augustine. — 
This was perfectly natural. Men must complete their ideas 
of free-agency; responsibility; individualism as opposed to 
the confused physical depravity of paganism, before they 

* For an account of what was called the third way of communion, see the Camr 
bridge Platform, chap. xv. See the anecdote of Mr. Parker's learning and liberality in 
Coffin's History, page 375. See also Dr. Popkin's two Sermons on leaving the Old House, 
and entering the New. 



8 

will be led to speculate on free grace, and justification 
wholly by faith. They must read the elementary page be- 
fore they proceed to those more correct and more re- 
fined ideas, taught in the Epistles of Paul and confirm- 
ed by the whole Bible. But in modern times the process 
was different. The reformation was an outbreak from 
the grossly developed Pelagianism which preceded it. All 
was works, works ; merit, human merit, in the days of 
Luther. The vast fabric of the Romish Church was built 
on this predominating idea. The reformers, startled at 
such doctrines and disgusted at the effects they saw pro- 
duced, set up the noble doctrine of Justification by faith, 
as an antagonist power — to sweep away all these fatal de- 
lusions. But Luther, while he opposed a scriptural truth 
to a traditional error, narrowed the definition of faith ; he 
made it too much resemble a blind persuasion of a per- 
sonal interest in Christ.^ Hence the antinomian tenden- 
ces which soon manifested themselves, and which have al- 
ways been the bane of an incautious orthodoxy. He did not 
make his system meet the wants of our whole moral na- 
ture; though he set up the pillars of truth, their leanings were 
often wrong ; his language was often imprudent and ex- 
cessive, and even when he meant well, conveyed a wrong 
impression ; hence the reaction was visible in the mind of 

* Melcher Adam in his Lives of the Eeformers tells a story of Luther, which perhaps may 
show how he became partial to that view of faith afterwards deemed so dangerous. When 
he was young he was very sick ; his views were then indistinct, he was very anxious about 
his spiriual state, and was visited by an old man whose conversation he very much en- 
joyed; and this man told him, in repeating the creed, I believe in the remission of sins — 
he must believe for himself and not in general, that his sins were forgiven him: 

Saepe etiam senis cujusdam sermonibus se confirmation esse narravit : cui cum consterna- 
tiones suas exposuisset, audivit cum de fide multa differentem, seque deductum ajebat ad 
symbolum, in quo legitur : Credo remissionem peccatortvm. Hunc articulum sic ille inter- 
pretatus erat : non solum in genere credendum esse, aliqtdbus remitti ; ut fy Dcemones cre- 
dunt, Davidi mit Petro remitti ; sed mandatum Dei esse ; ut singidi homines nobis remtti pec- 
cata credamus. Et hanc interpretationem confirmation dixit Bernhardi dicto ; monstratum- 
que locum in concione de annunciatione, ubihsecsunt verba: sed adde,ut credas §■ hoc, 
quod per ipsum peccata tibi donantur. Hoc est testimonium, quod perhibit Spiiitus sanctus t 
in oorde tuo, dicens : dimissa sunt tibi peccata tua. Sic enim arhtratur Apostolus ; gratis 
jttstificari hominum pcrfdem. 

This afterwards became the favorite phraseology of Luther, and laid the foundation o f 
the subsequent excesses of Antinomianism. Even Melancthon says, Non potest cor diligere 
Deum, nisi ostendatur placatus. See Deoderlein's Theology, Vol. n. page 450. 



9 

his warmest friend, Melancthon ; and hence, in the next 
age, a new system arose, — placing man on his own agen- 
cy ; and thus attempting to justify the ways of God to man. 
In this way, the polemic attraction was continued too long; 
and very few even of the most pious and learned, in that 
agitated age, found the independent path to scripture and 
to truth. A similar course occurred in New England. — 
The stern orthodoxy of our pious fathers uttered some 
truths with great emphasis, and others, I suspect, with a fee- 
ble voice. There are some subjects which even now, I 
should not go to volumes oftheCalvinists to find the best dis- 
cussion of! Tillotson's sermon on evil speaking ; Dr. Bar- 
rows' discourses on industry ; Sherlock's views on resti- 
tution and reparation as absolutely necessary to the sin- 
cerity of repentance, are far better and more evangelical 
than any thing similar found in the writings of men, who 
over and over again insist on the depravity of man and a 
salvation by a free pardon. It is often permitted by the 
high wisdom of God, whose ways are not our ways, and 
his thoughts not our thoughts, that when a sect has long 
prevailed, however firm their foundation, that will not, or 
cannot utter his whole truth, that he raises up another 
sect who will supply the delinquency ; and leave a wise 
posterity to improve by the general result. Thus even 
Arminianism had its causes and executed its mission. — 
It operated like the ballast-chests, which I have seen in 
some of our steam-boats, that when chance or curiosity 
draws the passengers all to one side, these machines are 
rolled to the other, in order to restore the balance ; to trim 
the vessel, and perchance to prevent a destructive explo- 
sion. 

But Arminianism also had its evils; it was too apt to over- 
look those rousing truths which disturb the sinner's con- 
science, and it was more remarkable for cherishing the el- 
egant decencies of life than for awakening the stupid, 
alarming the secure, or calling the prodigal from his husks 



10 

and swine to the penitent recesses of his fathers house. — 
It was not a system of deep feeling; it had little impulse 
and no zeal. This system also in its turn produced its re- 
action, and when after a long slumber, the intensest feel- 
ing spread over the Churches— when that extensive revival 
began, so auspicious in its commencement, so disastrous in 
its close— when dazzled by those spiritual images, which 
the poor soul of man in its boundless cravings is doomed 
always to reach after and never to grasp, the public mind 
staggered under the mighty vision, I cannot but think that 
the Arminian Churches, stood as a barrier to check the 
fanaticism which threatened to inundate the land. The 
Rev. Mr. Parsons, of the Church that went out from this, 
one of the warmest revivalists of that day, tells us in 
one of his manuscript letters — that "many in the land and 
some among us who seemed for a time to run well, have 
since fallen away, some hito gross wickedness, and others 
into wild enthusiasm, and have embraced several strange 
doctrines ; some affirm they have undergone something 
equivalent to death, and therefore are now immortal and 
without any remains of sin ; yea, beyond the possibility 
of sinning ; that in this state they are to have children; born, 
not of their former wives, but of those women who have 
entered the immortal state, as weU as themselves ; that 
their children are to be a holy seed, and so the latter day 
glory of the Church is to commence and be carried on in 
that way. Others, who renounce these pernicious princi- 
ples, ramble about the country, and when they can get 
admittance, creep into houses and teach the audience that 
human learning is the cause of driving away the spirit of 
God from the Churches ; one of this sort has lately been 
among some of my people, inculcating these principles, 
and telling them that God had laid aside men of learning? 
and taken farmers and tradesmen to carry on his work. 
The principle seems to be taking with a few weak people, 
but I trust God will not suffer Satan to go on in this way.' 



11 

How exactly is the present age a reproduction of the past! 
And how true are the words of the preacher in Jerusalem 
— There is no new thing under the sun ! 

The foundation of religious excess is laid in our nature. 
While religious motives sweep with energy over the hearts 
of men, there will always be some of such a temperament, 
that the action will be excessive on the trembling chords of 
their moral and physical composition. There will be young 
men who will see visions, and old men who will dream 
dreams ; and even a divine action on the soul will not expel 
all errors, or supersede all the imperfections of its peculiar 
structure. Take Davenport, for example, the great agita- 
tor of the days of Edwards and Whitefield. There cannot 
be a moment's doubt that he was sincere — he was an 
earnest man and no hypocrite. But what was he, and 
where was the fountain of all his delusions ? He was a 
man of no delicacy of taste, no sense of propriety ; a 
man in whom the religious element was strongly devel- 
oped ; who saw the world as we all do, through his own 
ideal ; who was for bringing every man's religious expe- 
rience to his own standard ; and who in prostrating all 
the forms of life only considered himself as manifesting 
great zeal for the glory of God. Now in every age there 
will be Davenports ; not only men to blow his trumpet, 
but thousands of hearts that will respond to the sound. — 
It is fixed in the permanent laws of our nature ; as the 
blessed sun himself pouring down his light and produc- 
tive warmth on different latitudes, produces the banana 
and the incense tree of India, as well as the stunted pine 
of the Norway coast ; so the spirit of God, acting on dif- 
ferent hearts with different susceptibilities and under dif- 
ferent degrees of cultivation, is likely to produce all the 
diversities that we see repeated in every age. There must 
be the river and its mounds, the law and its circumscrip- 
tion ; this man's impulse must be checked by that man's 
caution; and God's purposes can only be executed by all 



12 

the varieties of action, which form the aggregate of human 
life. 

Let us always remember, however, that God's wisdom 
forms no excuse for our known defects. 

Yet after all, it must be granted that the Arminian sys- 
tem was very defective, and formed a very defective peo- 
ple. To check enthusiasm, or to rectify high speculation 
is not the sole duty of man. When I lay the writings of 
these cool and cautious men alongside of the Epistles of 
Paul, I cannot but think, I find a great discrepancy. In 
laying open the character of man, in stating the terms of 
our acceptance with God, I cannot but think they alike 
eluded reason, opposed scripture, and shocked the deep- 
est feelings of the soul. How can a poor sinner, whose 
best righteousness is as filthy rags, think of appearing be- 
fore the terrible throne, unless clad in the righteousness 
of his Savior ; unless accepted through the free justifica- 
tion, which is the gracious fruit of God's electing love ? 

This pulpit was (formerly at least) distinguished for its 
occupants. Here were displayed the mental treasures of 
the learned Parker ; and the moderate Calvinism of the 
judicious Noyes ; men who taught your fathers to unite 
in their practical creed, the grace of God with the duties 
of man ; men who said that we must be justified by 
our faith, but that faith itself must be justified by works. 
Here Woodbury,and Richardson and Tappan,presented to 
your memories the faith they inherited from their fathers. 
Here the mild and prudent Tucker^ steered the bark of 
the church through troubled waters in stormy times ; — 
disarming his enemies by his meekness, and teaching 



* Dr. Tucker, though managing Lis pen with some polemic keenness was in private life 
a man of great amenity and cheerfulness. He was surrounded by foes, and felt himself call- 
ed on to exercise some vigor in his own defence. The following anecdote is told of him, 
which may illustrate the moral of this sermon. Being one day overtaken by one of the new- 
lights, the good layman thought he must admonish the deficient priest. "Ah, Dr. Tucker," 
said tae^ ; 'all your good works will never carry you to Heaven." " Well, sir," was the reply, 
" you will never go there without them." So between them both, they got both sides of the 
truth. 



1 



o 



his people to conquer by love. Here the evangelical 
Moore preached Christ crucified ; and to his faithful or- 
thodoxy united that ardent charity which always gives it 
ten-fold power. The last preacher (previous to him who 
now addresses you) is still alive.^ Some of you remem- 
ber him. You remember the purity of his mind ; the im- 
partiality of his doctrines ; the independency of his senti- 
ments ; the conscientiousness of his life. 

Slave to no sect, he took no private road, 

But looked through Scripture, up to Scripture's God. 

Known for his profound learning, he was removed 
from this parish to a distinguished place in a neighboring 
Seminary. " Age and infirmities," he tell us, have pre- 
vented his being with us this day. May his sun go down 
in serenity and peace, near those Academic shades which 
he has illuminated by his learning and adorned by his 
example. May we all be benefited by his humble eru- 
dition ; his childlike simplicity ; his frankness of purpose; 
the characteristic caution by which, in stating a senti- 
ment, he was always careful never to overpass %% 
truth. 

I can say of all my predecessors, what I hope will be 
said of me, when I shall have become the mouldering 
tenant of yonder graveyard ; that they caught some of 
the fragments of the seamless robe of Christ, which is too 
often parted in this polemic world. They were all 
honest men, felt their responsibility, and meant to de- 
clare the truth. Though belonging to different systems, 
none of them went to extremes in these systems. This 
pulpit has always been sacred to moderation. If judicious 
preachers have had some success here in forming an intel- 
ligent audience, perhaps an intelligent audience has had 
some effect in producing judicious preachers. 

In this review we may find abundant reason to adore 

* John S. Popkin, D. D., formerly Greek Professor of Harvard University, the immedi- 
ate predecessor of Dr. Charming, Boston, and for twelve years a cherished and respected 
pastor in this place. 



14 

the goodness of God, in the protection of our lives. He 
who guided the fathers has blessed the children. For two 
hundred years his temple has stood on this consecrated 
ground. How many sermons have been preached; how 
much truth has been uttered : how many warnings given; 
how many streams of consolation have been poured into 
bleeding hearts; how many penitential tears have mingled 
with this sacred dust ! Could the long array of souls pass 
before us, who have gone from this temple to perdition or 
to glory, we should certainly feel that we are standing 
on holy ground. We should say : the people asked and 
he brought quails and satisfied them with the bread 
of Heaven. He opened the rock, and the waters gush- 
ed OUT ; THEY RAN IN THE DRY PLACES LIKE A RIVER. 

FOR HE REMEMBERED HIS HOLY PROMISE AND ABRAHAM HIS 
SERVANT. AND HE BROUGHT FORTH HIS PEOPLE WITH JOY, 
AND HIS CHOSEN WITH GLADNESS. And GAVE THEM THE LAND 

of the heathen they inherited the labor of the 

people. That they might observe his statutes and keep 
his laws. Praise ye the Lord. 

A few obvious reflections may close this subject — 
In the first place, we see the great importance of preach- 
ing the whole gospel ; of not letting one feature of its as- 
pect strike out another. We must not shun, as the scrip- 
ture expresses it, to declare the whole counsel of God. 
Such is the imperfection of human nature; such are the 
limited conceptions of the narrow mind of man, that we 
often fasten on a few doctrines which absorb our whole 
attention ; we forget that the commands of God are ex- 
ceedingly broad. Such have been the faults of every age. 
More harm has been done in this world by partial truth 
than by positive error. We are so very cautious that we 
are afraid to let God speak to man in all his fulness. — 
Hence we see the spectacle of one sect telling the truths 
that another sect will not tell. The Church exists in par- 
ties, and the truth is told in fragments. Some lay a no- 



15 

ble foundation and never build upon it, and others build a 
lofty edifice without a foundation. The truth is, the 
church has never yet escaped from the polemic undula- 
tions. One truth is polluted because the Romish church 
possesses it. Another savors of Socinianism. Another 
fosters human merit. Another has led to fanaticism, and 
people have been taught so to hate heretics, that they 
have hated also that nucleus of truth,from which all here- 
sy must derive its form and plausibility. It is high time 
to awaken from this deceitful dream ; and fill our people 
with the amplitude of truth, and with the fullness of 
God. 

In the second place, the history of this Church may 
throw some new light on the principles of Toleration. — 
It has been much disputed who has the credit of hand- 
ing this precious jewel into the world. Some say it was 
John Goodwin, the Arminian. Some advocate the claims 
of Dr. Owen. Some mention Cromwell; some applaud 
the Quakers ; some give the laurel to Milton. Locke's 
letters on Toleration and the commentary of Bayle, the 
French sceptic, have been mentioned and applauded. — 
It has always seemed to me that it is too precious a gift 
to belong to any party, or man. It was the gift of God 
himself. It came through the medium of his special 
providence. The fact was, it sprung up, in Holland through 
the pressure of circumstances ; it was forced on them as 
a reluctant gift, which they almost violated their conscien- 
ces in taking. It was a cold political expediency which 
slowly brought them to adopt a measure, now num- 
bered among the clearest and the most positive rights 
of man. After Philip II. had driven them to madness 
and rebellion, by his bigotry and cruel oppression, the frag- 
ments of all sects were obliged to unite against him. — 
Their danger produced their union. Holland and Flan- 
ders were to Europe what Rhode Island was afterwards 
to NewEngland. A spectacle was exhibited, in the midst 



16 

of the Christian nations, of a country enjoying the bene- 
fit of their daring indifference. The example of the Neth- 
erlands was quoted, and thus the benefits of toleration 
were seen in practice before any genius was so bold as to 
teach them in theory. The same thing was acted on a 
smaller scale between this mother church and her rebel- 
lious daughter. I should be glad to claim for the old Ar- 
minians the credit of having advanced on their age, in 
their ideas of toleration. But no ; it grew out of difficulty; 
it was the fruit of time. When it became apparent that 
the sects must part, and must both exist; that is, one could 
never put down the other — then arose the idea of a com- 
promise. And here let us observe, that the question of toler- 
ation, like many other political questions, is one wholly of 
expediency. In the origin of NewEngland, toleration would 
not have been wise. This country derived its character ; 
its energy ; its piety, almost wholly from its uniformity. 
The wisdom of toleration depends upon the degree of ad- 
vancement among the people. Take the case of the 
Sandwich Islands as an example : when the popish del- 
egation first invaded those islands, our pious missiona- 
ries took some measures to resist them, which contradict 
all our theories of toleration. They were right. The 
people were just passing from a pagan state ; they were 
infants in knowledge. They were all united, and the 
benefits of toleration would have been merely nominal, 
while the evils of distracted councils would be infinite. 
But when a people have reached a certain stage of im- 
provement ; when liberty has been enjoyed and different 
sects, based on intelligent principles, must exist, then relig- 
ious liberty becomes practical wisdom. This hard lesson 
our own history has taught us, and for this gift, as well as 
many others connected with the gospel, the glory must 
be given to God alone. 

In the third place, our history may throw some light 
on Christian Union. Our Saviour in his last solemn 



11 

prayer, made it his earnest petition that all his followers 
might be one — "as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, 
that they all might be one in its, that the world may be- 
lieve that thou hast sent me." Here he seems to con- 
template a unity in his church which has never been 
verified; and from the known principles of human na- 
ture, we see not how it ever can be. As men advance 
and improve in thinking, they seem less likely to adopt 
one creed, and while their tastes differ, they will not be 
disposed to fall into the same organization. Even piety 
does not secure one train of speculation, or one form of 
church government. The Romish church was an elabo- 
rate attempt, the work of successive ages, to produce an 
outward union — by laws and by authority ; and yet the 
attempt failed; for all the colors of opinion could only 
be made to agree by spreading sackcloth over the sun 
and inducing darkness over the earth. I humbly con- 
ceive, that our little history may throw light on this sub- 
ject. Perhaps the congregational system (with that miti- 
gated Presbyterianism with which it is in fellowship) si 
most admirably adapted to be the foundation of all the 
unity that Christ ever contemplated. For mark our history; 
our very troubles may instruct us. This religious Socie- 
ty and that in Federal street were formerly one. They 
disagreed ; they separated ; the rebellious daughter went 
from the house of her severe mother. Their disagree- 
ment was on points of importance, and threatened to be 
eternal. But, behold ; in the change of times, the same 
doctrines are preached in both the pulpits ; the same 
views are cherished by both the churches ; and those 
that denounced each other in 1744, found, in a quiet 
grove, on July 4th, 1846, "how good and pleasant it is for 
brethren to dwell together in unity."^ Most instructive 

* This alludes to a Sabbath-School celebration, in which the two societies joined, during 
the current year. An address was made by the Eev. Jonathan F. Stearns, in which he 
happily alluded to former dissensions, and our present unity and peace. One of the mottos 
was, u Behold koiogood and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." It was an 
occasion when Profit came robed in Delight. 
3 



18 

fact! It shows that where there is real union, it will pre- 
vade its simplest forms ; where there is none, it is best 
not to be held together in iron chains, which only in- 
crease the discord. I say again, that Congregationalism 
is the most admirable system to produce that unity. Its 
simple machinery works well. " And Abram said unto 
Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me 

AND THEE, AND BETWFEN MY HERDSMEN AND THY HERDS- 
MEN, FOR WE ARE BRETHREN. Is NOT THE WHOLE LAND 

BEFORE THEE? SEPARATE THYSELF, I PRAY THEE, FROM ME ; 

IF THOU WILT TAKE THE LEFT HAND, THEN WILL I GO TO 
THE RIGHT * OR IF THOU DEPART TO THE RIGHT HAND, THEN 
WILL I GO T THE LEFT." 

Lastly,— Let us all, instructed by past excesses, join in 
promoting a genuine revival of religion. I know not 
that it would be wise to confine ourselves to the exact 
type which New England has hitherto exhibited. All 
parties agree that the benefits of 1740, were purchased 
at a great expense. The church should be instructed by 
its own experience ; and perhaps St. Paul himself, had 
he been present and seen the commotion of that agitated 
time, might have whispered, even to Edwards and White- 
field, what he before said to the Corinthians, — Yet shew 

I UNTO YOU A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. All I ask for IS, a 

revival which shall end well; for 1 read — The work of 

RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL BE PEACE, AND THE EFFECT OF RIGHT- 
EOUSNESS QUIETNESS AND ASSURANCE FOREVER. O, may God 

bless his vineyard, and may these ancient churches, emu- 
lating the virtues of their fathers, and instructed by their 
very errors, go on receiving the dews of Heaven, till the 
wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the clouds of our 
partial illumination shall be lost in the permanent efful- 
gence of the millenial day. 



HYMN, 

COMPOSED FOR THE OCCASION, BY HON. GEORGE IMT. 



How glorious, Lord, thine earthly temples rise! 

And every solemn spire, that meets the sky, 
Draws Heaven descending nearer to our eyes, 

And lifts the rising soul to soar on high, 

II. 

In dens and mountain-caves thy saints of old 

Through clouds and darkness sought thy promise given ; 
Our brighter vision bids us view unrolled 

Thy gospel, beaming in the blaze of Heaven. 

in. 

Up to thy holy throne, our fathers' God ! 

How oft our lips the cheerful song have raised ! 
In doubt and fear thy sacred courts they trod, 

And praised thy name, but trembled while they praised. 

IV. 

Even here, where nature breathes so calm and still, 

And all is peaceful as thy holy word, 
In arms they prayed, and stoodto hear thy will, 

And grasped their warlike weapons as they heard. 

v. 

Their quiet graves are lying all around, 

Long, long have slept their trials, doubts and fears, 

And mossy stones that lowly press the ground, 
Record their tale of twice a hundred years, 

VI, 

Oh, for those fervent, simple hearts of yore, 

The zeal they felt, the conquering faith they knew ! 

For this we'd welcome all the toils they bore, 
And joyful seize their final victory too. 

VII. 

Behold, an evil age thy truth perverts, 

The plain and sacred truth thy books afford, 

And light but darkens in their wandering hearts, 
The Gospel glories brightening round thy word. 

VIII. 

Yet, Lord ! on us bestow thine ancient grace, 
To lead our footsteps where our fathers trod, 

That children's children here, an unborn race, 

May know and prove thee still, their fathers' God ! 



APPENDIX. 



From the first settlement of Newbury, in 1635, till 1642, the inhab- 
itants had made the "lower green" on the banks of the "great river", 
as it was then called, their central place of business, and of course had 
there erected their "meeting house," but in the latter year, as appears 
from the following extract from the town records they had determined on 
a removal ; 

"Whereas the towne of Newbury well weighing the streights they were in for want of 
plough ground, remoteness of the common;, scarcity of fencing stuffe and the like did in the 
year 1643 grant a commission to Mr. Thomas Parker, Mr. James Noyes, Mr. John Wood- 
bridge, Mr, Edward Rawson, Mr. John Cutting, Mr. John Lolwe, Mr. Edward Woodman, and 
Mr. John Clark for removing, settleing and disposeing of the inhabitants to such place as 
might in their judgements best tend to theyr enlargements, exchanging theyr lands and mak* 
ing such orders, as might bee in theyr judgments for the well ordering of the towne's occa- 
sions,, and as in their commission more largely appeareth^the said deputed men did order and 
appoint John Merrill, Richard Knight,. Anthony Short and John Emery to go to all the- inhab- 
itants of the towne, taking a true list of all the stock of each inhabitant, make a true valua- 
tion of all theyr houses, improved land, and fences,., that thereby a just rule might he made 
to proportion each inhabitant his portion about the "new towne" and the removing of the 
inhabitants there." 

"It was further ordered that in respect of the time for the inhabitants removing from the 
place they now inhabit, to that, which is layd out and appointed for their new habitations, 
each inhabitant shall have theyr house lotts fonre yeares fvom the day of the date of this 
commission." 

In the town records of Jan. 2, 1646, the following extract is found : 

"Wee, whose names are in the margent* expressed for the settleing the disturbances, that 
yett remayne about the planting and settleing the meeting house, that all men may cheerfully 
goe on to improve theyr lands at the new towne, doe determine that the meeting hoiise shall 
be placed and sett up at or before the twentieth of October next in, or upon, a knowle of upland 
by Abraham Tappan's barne within a sixe or sixteen rodd of this side of the gate posts, that 
are sett up in the high way by the said Abraham Toppan's house." 



* James Noyes, Edward Woodman, John Cutting, 

John Lowle, Richard Knight,. Henry Short." 



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